Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Algebra - a stocking filler

Should any readers be looking for an educational but alternative and new take on how to get their kids (and you) understanding the wonderful world of letters and numbers together in dodgy looking sums, then here's a possible stocking filler for Christmas - the Little Maths Book, here's the blurb,
“Have you ever been set an algebraic equation and just sat there scratching your head?”

If so, you’re not alone. Many – probably most – of the students who come to Colin for help are struggling with algebra. It’s not an easy topic for most people.

So, he enlisted his talented brother, Stuart – winner of a Golden Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival and all round design genius – to help put together a beginner’s guide to the subject.

The idea was to turn ‘traditional’ maths textbooks on their heads. Out with the dull, heavy-as-a-brick, purely functional books that have barely changed style since your parents were at school; in with something small, beautiful and focussed on helping you understand the single, most important rule of algebra: whatever you do to one side, you have to do to the other.

And that’s what we’ve come up with – a gorgeous, engaging little maths book that can serve as a teaching tool or as a reminder of the ideas behind algebra.M
The book is £3.70 including delivery in the UK and can be purchased through the website.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST: The two behind the book, one an ex-NASA project maths geek and the other a graphic designer are my step-brothers. Oh yes, and personally I always found that trial and error guess work for algebra was the best approach! Keep trying different numbers until you get it right.

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